Gustav von Myrdacz (12 July 1874 – died 11 July 1945) was an Austrian noble who was instrumental in organizing the Royal Albanian Army from the early 1920s to 1945. He was referred to in Albania as Gustav Mirdashi. Early life and training Gustav von Myrdacz was born in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, on 12 July 1874 in a German-speaking Silesian aristocratic family. His father, Paul von Myrdacz (4 May 1847 – 7 July 1930), who was born in Konská (Třinec), pursued a career as a military doctor in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was involved in the occupation of Bosnia in 1878 and spent time there in the 1880s. Gustav von Myrdacz was raised in the multi-lingual multi-cultural environment of the late Habsburg Empire and was trained to become a military engineer. He attended high school in Vienna at the Theresian Military Academy (Theresianischen Militärakademie) in Wiener Neustadt, and in 1897 was posted to the Habsburg Austrian Military Police Battalion Number 32 in Galicia. From 1901 to 1903 he attended the Military School of the General Staff College (Kriegsschule der Generalstabsakademie) and served in various infantry brigades as a staff officer after 1904. From 1909 onwards, he was a tactical instructor at the Imperial and Royal Technical Military Academy in Mödling. He additionally trained wild horses from the ages of 8 to 19. World War I When World War I began in 1914, von Myrdacz served as an officer in Sarajevo. In December 1915, he was attached to the General Division of the XIX Corps under General Ignaz Trollmann. He helped Austria conquer and occupy Serbia and enter northern Albania to engage Italian soldiers. From 1 May 1917, von Myrdacz commanded the border guard battalion IV (Grenzjägerbataillon IV), before becoming the chief of staff to the 14th Infantry Division, which was assigned to the Italian front. He participated in the Battles of the Isonzo here. In 1918, partly because of his involvement in the occupation of Albania, von Myrdacz was introduced to a young honorary colonel named Ahmed Zog in Vienna. On 5 January 1918, von Myrdacz was appointed colonel in the General Staff Corps (Oberst im Generalstabskorps). From 16 July 1918, he commanded the last offensive of Austria-Hungary in Venetia when he led Infantry Regiment No. 117 on the Tonale Pass in Tyrol. A day after the armistice, he was captured as a prisoner of war in Italy. He was